How to choose a right teapot for brewing Pu-erh?

As we discussed in our We Reveal the Mystery of Pu-erh, you should look for thick wall rough clay, round belly purple clay teapots. Thick wall rough clay will help to absorb some impure tastes of Pu-erh, while round belly will allow Pu-erh large leaves to expand. You should also make sure that water can be poured out quickly. This function requirement is quite often neglected.

When choosing a purple clay teapot for brewing tea, stick to the fundamentals. Your money should be spent on functionality, quality of clay, and excellence in craftsmanship. Do not over pay only because it carries a famous craftsman’s seal. Other than the fact that there are many faked seals out there, quite often products of famous craftsmen’s students also carry famous craftsmen’s seal. One reason that people seek famous craftsmen’s products is that they care about the quality of clay and they normally have access to high quality clays. Well aged clays are highly sought after and demand high prices. Therefore, if you stick to the fundamentals, your money will be well spent.

There are two types of purple clay teapots. One is for display, and the other one is for brewing tea. Although many famous craftsmen manage to find a balance between the two, some teapots are just too fancy and lose their function for brewing a good cup of tea. If you search some reputable tea retailers’ site that also sell purple clay teapots, you will notice that those demand high prices are those stick to basic design but shows high quality of clay and excellent attention to details.

Do your research, and you will find a purple clay teapot that serves you and your tea well.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Do you know the difference between brewing tea for testing vs. for tasting?

The purpose of brewing tea for testing is to bring out all the bad aspects of tea. The purpose of brewing tea for tasting, on the other hand, is to avoid all the bad aspects of tea. As you can see, the two actually serve completely opposite purposes.

When brewing tea for testing, we normally use hot boiling water to brew tea for 5 minutes in a covered teaware. This will bring out all the bad tastes and smells of tea. When brewing tea for tasting, a seasoned tea master knows how to brew a tasty cup of tea by adjusting water temperature and brewing time based on characteristics of individual tea. For examples of various tea tasting brewing methods, please visit our site at www.teahub.com. The brewing instructions for our teas are carefully developed by our house tea master, Ms. Di Liu, the first Tea Ceremony Artificer in China, which is ranked higher than the title of Senior Tea Master.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Do you have the right water for brewing tea?

Many people know that the quality of tea leaves is very important for brewing a good cup of tea. However, not many people realize that the water that they use to brew tea is as important, if not more important, for brewing a good cup of tea. Mr. Zhang Dafu of Ming dynasty wrote in his Mei Hua Cao Tang Bi Tan that “Tea leaves need water to be brewed into a good cup of tea. 100% quality water can brew 80% quality tea leaves into a 100% quality cup of tea. On the other hand, 80% quality water can only brew 100% quality tea leaves into an 80% quality cup of tea.”

Lu Yu had detail discussions about tea brewing water in his famous tea book Cha Jing (Tea Bible). Generally speaking, hard water is not good for brewing tea. Water with PH value of greater than 7 may darken color of tea liquor and lighten taste of tea.

After selecting the right type of water, boiling water is the next important step. Cai Xiang of Song dynasty said in his tea book Cha Lu that “To boil water is the most difficult task. Foams will show up if water is not ready. Leaves will fell to bottom if water is over boiled…” When boiling water for brewing tea, people should use high heat to bring the water to rapid boiling. Over boiled water is not suitable for brewing tea.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Tea Talk Blog is live now!

Welcome to our Tea Talk Blog! We hope that this blog can be a source of tea related information for tea drinkers.


Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com